


A Love Through Three Lives and Three Worlds : Ten Miles of Snarry Blossoms

by khaleesisophie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Everybody Lives, Gods and Goddesses AU, M/M, Romance, Severus is a nine tailed fox, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms AU, Xianxia AU, a lot of shit happens, and a death, but they're in love, god!harry, god!severus, it takes seventy thousand years for them to get their shit together, tw: Mentions of Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:35:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28946007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesisophie/pseuds/khaleesisophie
Summary: The immortal Crown Prince witnessed his own mortal husband jumping off the Execution Terrace. His mortal husband jumped off without regrets.Three hundred years later, they ended up meeting again.Severus and Harry's fates are entangled as they love each other through three lives and three worlds.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I finally posted my first Snarry despite shipping them for around 5 years now. 
> 
> If you're not familiar with Xianxia, here's a handy article that explains it. Note that xianxia rules are not super steadfast and tend to vary through each work.
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia_novel
> 
> In this setting, the people of Heaven are descendants of animals that cultivated to immortality and became gods. Severus and Lily are white nine tailed foxes, and Harry is a stag. They usually use their human forms most of the time, though.
> 
> So this love story as explained in my tag happens over the course of 70,000 years. Severus is 140,000 years old at the start of the story, and Harry is 50,000 years old.
> 
> I'm going to be talking a lot about "trials' in this story. Trials are NOT a pass/fail thing. The point of them is to suffer.
> 
> Ascensions are against the will of Heaven, so a trial (usually lightning, or fire, or something more complicated like what Severus went through) will occur. The point of it is that the immortal suffering the trial experiences pain and suffering. 
> 
> So remember that every single character, even the background ones, has experienced being struck by lightning several times already. It's no big deal to them lol. 
> 
> Enjoy the story!

Have you ever loved someone? 

Have you ever hated someone? 

Have you ever suffered a resentment so great it made the Heavens shake and caused the blessed event of an immortal’s ascension?

Love and hatred collide and mix together, resentment is then born.

Where there is love there is worship, where there is hatred there is coldness. 

Where there is both, there is only pain, pain so great one cannot help but want to forget they had ever loved at all. 

And so the wheel of reincarnation turns and turns, fueled by love and hatred and lust and greed and every other suffering mortals and immortals have endured through millennia.

Even the gods cannot be spared. In fact, their suffering is greater and stretched over the tens of thousands of years of their cursed existence. 

Trials that are physical in nature are much easier for an immortal of heaven to pass to complete an Ascension. The trials of affinity and love are harder.

"Don't let them get away!" 

"Your Highness, your husband is-"

"ALEX!" 

The Crown Prince of the Heavens had fallen to his knees, terrified by the helplessness he never thought he would ever come to know.

The blindfolded man stood on the edge of the Execution Terrace, the winds whipping the strands of dark hair and sticking to soaked fabric.

"Alex. Please, I'm begging you. It doesn’t have to be like this. Please- think of our baby, think of me, please come back here-"

"Let me go, Harry. From now on, we are even. We no longer owe each other anything. _Let me go._ ”

The man jumped and was swallowed by the rolling clouds of thunder and wails of hatred. 

As the mortal died, the glowing red seal on his forehead was finally broken. 

The mortal’s body was broken by the forces of the Execution Terrace of the Heavens, from which even immortals could not hope to survive. 

The human form shifted into that of a white Nine Tailed Fox of the Heavens, one that had only eight tails remaining after its legendary sacrifice seventy thousand years prior. 

The fox gave out a trilling scream as it fell into the Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms forest of Qingqiu. It was an anguished cry not from any physical pain, but one of a broken heart as his memories came back to him.

Severus Snape fell down into Qingqiu, lying broken and bloodied among the peach blossoms, having suffered through the love and hatred of mortals when he was called Alexander. The marriage that bore fruit to both great love and great hatred was merely the experience of a single human lifetime.

There was a great phoenix flying overhead. It disappeared into a storm of flames, revealing the white fox who had accompanied it. 

Lily Potter, Princess of the Heavens and mother to the Crown Prince sobbed and fell to her knees. 

The Heavenly Emperor, Albus Dumbledore, murmured a spell. 

Golden light surrounded Severus Snape, healing his wounds and making his dark eyes- now completely lacking their spiritual essence- flicker open.

Lily sobbed with relief and helped him sit up. Severus allowed himself to be moved, his eyes lacking all life. It was as if he had already died and his body was merely a shell.

“Luckily, you’re not too injured. You just have superficial wounds.” Albus said, kneeling next to Severus. 

Severus did not answer, neither did he meet their eyes. 

“Since you resealed Tom Riddle in the bell, we’ve been looking for you.” Lily said. “We thought you were dead.”

“No.” Severus said tonelessly. “I wasn’t.” 

“Your eyes-” Lily said, and then stopped.

“You already know what happened to my eyes. You gave the order, Albus.”

“My boy…” Albus raised his hand to touch his shoulder, but Severus turned sharply and snarled at the both of them.

“ _Don’t touch me!_ ” He backed away from them both until his back hit a tree. He doubled over with pain and clutched his side with a shuddering gasp.

After a few moments, he raised his head again.

“I battled with Tom Riddle for seven days and seven nights. It wasn’t a complete victory. He locked away my memories and my immortality and abandoned me on Mount Fenrir. To face a _trial_.” Severus laughed bitterly, and wetness spread on his face. He touched his bloodied fingers to his cheeks, and realized he was crying. “Lily, Albus, if you really want me to forgive you, then give me the medicine of forgetfulness.”

“Severus-” Lily tried to speak, but Albus raised his hand, stopping her.

“My boy, if you wish to forget, or if you wish to remember- that is your decision. But I must warn you, if you drink it, there is no cure. You already know this.”

Severus leaned into the tree, and stared at the crystal clear water as it flowed over rocks and grooves. It was shining in the crisp sunlight. Beautiful.

“Albus, you predicted when I came to be your disciple that I would have a good destiny. But without suffering, how could one ascend to High God?”

Albus blinked. “So you ascended.”

Severus laughed bitterly again. “The love I felt, the pain I suffered- it was only that. A trial to become a High God. So why should I remember? All of that… just a trial. No more, no less.”

“Severus, I’m begging you. For all the wrongs I committed against you these few years- you don’t have to forgive me.” Lily was crying now. She crawled to his side and gripped his hand, but Severus’s eyes refused to meet hers. “Harry- you know he jumped down after you on the Execution Terrace. He’s asleep now, and healing, but he’s lost his will to live. Go to his side- explain-”

“ _DON’T TOUCH ME!_

Lily gasped, and backed away. Severus relaxed only after she let go of him. 

“Explain what?” He whispered. “That our marriage, the love we shared, the birth of our daughter, your disapproval, him being forced to take my eyes- was merely a trial? Harry has always bounced back from pain and suffering. He’ll find his way. I am not as strong as him. So please- the medicine.”

Lily buried her face in her hands and started to cry in earnest. “Sev, I am so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know I was Alexander.” Severus didn’t look at her. “I forgive you. But please- the medicine.”

Albus’s eyes were tinged red as well, but he shoved away the pain and lifted his hand. The bottle was conjured in his palm, and pressed into Severus’s lap.

“When I wake up, tell me that my eyes were injured by Tom Riddle. I ascended because of our battle.” 

“What about Harry?” Lily asked quietly.

“He hasn’t sought me out in all these years even after I taught him to cultivate. Even if he figures it out, it will be years before he does. We have already been engaged to marry since before he was born, so I will leave it to fate what happens.” 

Severus opened the bottle, and stared at the inky medicine that sat in it. 

“Goodbye, Harry.” He whispered, and took a long swig of the medicine. Then, he collapsed against the peach tree, falling asleep engulfed by the Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms.


	2. 300 Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aksjdjdsjsj I got bored at work so here's the second chapter.

300 years later

"Why am I here?" Severus murmured, his memories not quite returning to him yet.

He was staring at the skies of Qingqiu. More specifically, he was staring at the thick foliage of peach blossoms covering the sky, tainting his vision pink. 

His head felt like it was being split open with a knife. He squeezed his eyes shut. It was too bright- his eyes hurt.

"You've had a very long dream." Came the familiar voice of his sworn sister. 

Lily, the princess of the heavens and his beloved sworn sister, knelt down next to his head. 

"It hurts." Severus said. "The light is too bright."

"I can imagine." 

Severus shook his head. "No- it's bright. It hurts."

"I see. Here. I made this for you." 

Her gentle hands wound a strip of white cloth around his eyes and blocked out the light, giving him relief.

"I put a spell on it. Filius wove the fabric himself. We think your eyes were injured when you were fighting Tom."

Ah- Severus remembered now.

He had been at the sealing bell. Tom Riddle, the Lord of the Demon Realm, had been sealed there for seventy thousand years in the edge between the realm of the heavens and of the demon.

Severus had nearly died when the holy fire had burned him. 

He had helped to seal Tom himself seventy thousand years ago, slicing off one of his own tails to strengthen the sealing power of the bell. 

Albus had named him King of Qingqiu for it. 

But that fight- Severus shouldn't have survived. Nobody could have survived fighting Tom Riddle one on one.

He had fought Tom Riddle for seven days and seven nights before the seal had finally been repaired, but Tom Riddle had landed something on him. What that was, exactly, he could not remember.

What had happened? 

"Was the seal repaired fully?" 

The fabric was magical, so Severus was able to see through it clearly as if it were made of glass. Lily nodded at him, her smile sweet and pained. Her green eyes were shining with tears, and he thought she looked terribly sad about something.

"Yes. You gave all of us quite the fright when the holy fire spread through the skies of the Heavens. Even James was scared for you. We all thought we'd find your corpse when we came."

"I suppose that you found me in good health, then."

"Better, actually." Lily stood, held her hands together, and gave Severus a deep bow.

He stared. "What-"

"You haven't noticed yet?" She smiled sweetly at him. "High God?" 

It was an indication of how much pain he was in that he hadn't felt it before. He was glowing with power, his spiritual essence was making the nearby peach trees glow. A snake had curled up around his ankle and was trying to get closer to him by slithering up his leg. He flung it away with a hiss.

"We would have held a celebration, but…' Lily sighed. "The reason you're in so much pain- you've been asleep for three hundred years."

Severus sat up with a shout. "Three hundred-!"

"Relax." Her grip was firm as she shoved him back to lay down against the ground.

He obeyed, his back meeting the grass again. 

"You shouldn't move too much, or you'll be sore for days. After sleeping for three hundred years, I'd imagine even a High God like you would need to recuperate."

Severus stood, and realized with dismay that his hair had grown during his sleep. It now swished down to his hip. The white tips of his hair had remained, looking striking against his dark robes and the rest of the only black hair. 

"I'll go to the spring and heal there." He told Lily. 

"You really don't remember anything?"

He frowned at her. "And what, pray tell, is it you would like me to remember?" 

Her smile turned strained, but she shook her head. "Nevermind. Off to the spring with you, you stupid git."

"Aren't I your superior now?" Severus flicked open his fan-the legendary magical weapon that could split the seas and call down thunder from the skies- as if it were an everyday object.

"Once you've married Harry, I'll still be right above you even if you became the Heavenly Emperor."

"You're still on about that?" 

"Albus only signed an official edict." Lily shrugged. 

"At your behest!"

Severus walked into the pool, fully clothed. Lily sat atop a rock and dipped her feet in. 

If Lily were any other lady from the heavens, she would have looked absolutely ridiculous, but thankfully Lily made the outrageous fashions of the Heaven Clan look elegant. 

She had received no small amount of jealousy and sneering because of that, with her low birth. That Albus had elevated her to princess and adopted her officially had only been the final nail in the casket for the petty jealousies thrown at her. 

Severus closed his eyes and lowered his head beneath the water. 

The magics of the water swirled around him, and the aches of his body melted away. 

He could feel himself regaining control over his cultivation again, and the fan hummed happily in his hands. 

"May the heavens have mercy, with me as the Heavenly Consort." Severus said when he emerged. "Was this your plan all along, you petty woman?"

"It's not my fault you rejected Albus's offer." Lily said matter of factly. 

"Indeed." His mouth twisted. "So, what, have you been breathing down my neck as I slept these past three hundred years?" 

"Git. I was worried sick about you.'

"And you couldn't have moved me to a bed in all that time?"

"Well, I tried, but it seems you're still terribly stubborn even when in a coma. I had Albus himself come down to Qingqiu to try and move you into your cottage, but it wasn't to be."

That was odd, but he didn't press the matter. 

It took several hours to finally shoo Lily off and see to himself what state he'd left Qingqiu in.

Thankfully, the village was still as bustling as ever when he went down. Many did double takes as they saw him pass, and some went on their knees sobbing at the sight of Severus finally awake.

Terribly dramatic, the entire lot of them. 

A bear went to him and handed him a basket filled to the brim with fish. Great. Now he would have to figure out how to cook all the fish before it went bad. 

Severus spent the first week since waking up from his mysterious coma simply wandering around Qingqiu and flying on occasion. It was nice to just throw all responsibilities away and feel the air against his face, as well as think about how he was the first one in his generation to ascend so high. He hadn't even thought it was possible for his generation to achieve the status of High God, especially with such a seemingly easy trial.

If Lily were to be believed, he'd most likely ascended in his sleep. Had lightning come down on him then? 

Ascensions were blessed events, but the higher one ascended, the more they needed to suffer to ease the wrath of the Heavens for defying its Will. 

So, Severus decided, Lily's story didn't make much sense at all. 

For one, he had distinctly felt Tom Riddle's curse hit him. He highly doubted the Demon Lord himself would strike Severus, the infamous man who sealed him with something as simple as a sleep that lasted three hundred years. 

So what had he been cursed with?

Despite how weak and sensitive to light Severus's eyes had become, they were simply that. Injured.

Severus used spell after spell to check them, but there was no indication that the condition would worsen.

What he found was that nearly all of the spiritual essence had simply disappeared from them. So yes, they were injured, and Severus assumed this might have been due to the holy fire that had engulfed him at one point during the fight. 

However…

He flicked open his fan, and swung it. The resulting blast of air knocked down an entire mile of old, withered trees.  
His cultivation was perfectly fine. It was better, even, due to his ascension. There was no mysterious bad luck plaguing Severus, and no mysterious pain had cropped up either.

Rationally he knew he should stop worrying about it, but Severus had never been the kind of man to let things go. 

Another week later, he decided he knew what the curse was.

There was an invitation. On his table.

He didn't even know which poor resident of Qingqiu had to be cajoled into bringing it to him and sneaking it onto his table, but there it was. 

An invitation to a party hosted by Fleur Delacour, Empress of the Southern Sea. She had apparently had a daughter, and she obviously needed all of the highest ranked immortals and gods in the Heavens to come celebrate with her and her red headed husband.

There was even a note attached. Lily, threatening dismemberment and possible torture if Severus did not attend.

Lily wasn't the type to make idle threats, so Severus sucked it up and resigned himself to having to actually socialize for once.

He hadn't left Qingqiu in seventy thousand years. Even when Lily had sent Harry and his damned friends to study under Severus (scandalous as it was to have to teach his own young fiance cultivation), that had only lasted for a scant ten thousand years or so. Or was it twenty? No, it was definitely twenty.

With how infuriating Potter was, it felt like much longer. Heavens be help them all when that boy finally ascended to the throne- and Heavens help Severus once he was forcibly dragged onto the throne after their inevitable and unwilling marriage.

When he returned to his cottage after flying around aimlessly he dug around for whatever alcohol he could find. 

There was some peach wine, some brandy… he decided to go for the brandy. 

He settled onto the branch of one of his favorite trees in the ten miles of peach blossom forest and let himself be taken in by the sweet scent of blooming peach blossoms around him. It was a good spot, one that just barely overlooked a running stream. 

The entire horizon was pink. It was the home Severus had grown up in. He'd cultivated to immortality under his mother's watchful eyes among the same peach blossoms, and he had lived for a hundred and forty thousand years as a resident of the ten miles of peach blossoms forest.

The alcohol hit him much harder than expected. He supposed it shouldn't have been surprising, since he technically had been sober for three hundred years, but this was ridiculous. Had he really lost every bit of tolerance he'd built?

Nevertheless, he sipped more and enjoyed the warm feeling that filled him. It was just him for miles around, so if he were to stumble around like a foolish drunkard, that was his business alone.

Soon his surroundings had turned blurry. Severus lifted a hand and snorted to himself. He didn't know he had so many fingers.

He heard another person enter the clearing he was in. Severus strained his neck to look up, but then his entire body was falling off the branch. He didn't even think to try and hold onto the branch, he was in such a state that he simply let himself fall.

But then strong arms were around him, catching him just before he hit the ground.

Severus looked up dazedly at his savior. He looked vaguely familiar, jewel-green eyes were all that he registered. Was it Lily? No, this was definitely a man.

The man whispered an unfamiliar name and lowered his head. Severus jolted when their lips brushed together, and swiftly disappeared into smoke, away the man's arms.

He reappeared inside of his cottage and immediately tripped over a chair. 

Severus swore and stumbled into bed, and did not wake till morning.

When he woke up it was to a splitting hangover, and a complete blank of where the memories of the night before had been.

And now he had to attend that damn party. With _Weasleys_. And a hangover. 

Severus sucked it up and put on one of the nicer sets of robes he had, and hitched his fan to his hip. He tied the white cloth around his eyes, where it then shimmered gold for a moment and disappeared from view.

The trip to the Southern Sea thankfully didn't take too long. 

A jelly fish was already there to greet him when Severus made it to the end of the shore. It grew in size around him and brought him down to the bottom of the ocean where Empress Fleur's palace was. 

The guards accepted his invitation and when Severus was halfway down the path towards the entrance, he squinted his eyes as he realized it really was much too bright. He tapped his forehead and the cloth over his eyes reappeared. He made it more opaque, and he was relieved when the pain and colored spots disappeared from his vision. 

He walked into the party, not caring that it probably looked strange that he was walking around with a blindfold on, but he was a High God now so they could all die mad about it. Severus already looked strange, what with his huge nose, greasy black hair that turned white at the ends. What was a blindfold on top of it? 

There were several people in the room who had already grouped up were gossiping among themselves. He had yet to see their hosts, so he accepted a flute of champagne from a servant and sipped it, straining his ears to listen.

It had been in his nature to remain up to date with everyone's goings ons. Back during the war against the Demon Clan, it had been a necessity. Find out who to trust, find out information, find out what the enemy was telling their troops… that had been Severus's job, but everyone only remembered him for the part where he'd sacrificed one of his tails to seal Tom Riddle in the sealing bell. A pity, but he had gotten honors and titles for it, so he supposed he shouldn't really complain.

He took a few sips and listened for a while until he realized that some of these people were talking about _him_.

Severus drifted closer, but didn't make himself obvious. It seemed that people didn't recognize him with the cloth tied over his eyes, but they could hardly be blamed for that.

"The Crown Prince and the King of Qingqiu are both here, you know?" One man whispered behind a hand to his companion. "A marriage of destiny."

"Yes, how scandalous. Our beautiful crown prince marrying that old geezer? Isn’t High God Severus Snape ninety thousand years older than the Crown Prince?"

The first man threw his head back and laughed. 

"A marriage of destiny, hm?" Severus said, drifting closer towards them.

The men took notice. "Yes. Though, I suppose the crown prince would have to appear with him now. Nobody even knows who the father of his daughter is!"

"It definitely isn't High God Severus Snape, not with that nose!" 

Severus's eyebrows shot up so high they nearly touched his hair.

When had Potter had time to have a child? With an unknown father, no less? 

He didn't mind Potter being unfaithful to their engagement- with a face and a temper like Severus's, and a relationship as vitriolic and terrible as he had with Potter, it was only natural- but that gossip had gone and smacked Severus square on the nose instead. 

He gritted his teeth. Great. He hasn't left Qingqiu in seventy thousand years, and yet somehow Potter had to bollocks it up and make him the centre of small minded gossip somehow.

The servant who had been announcing everyone called the two men he had been speaking with forward to greet the hosts. Severus pulled out his fan and hid it behind his sleeve, then aimed at their feet and made a single motion.

The large gust of air made them both stumble forward and fall flat on their faces as they walked forward to greet Empress Fleur.

Severus smirked to himself and made his way out into the garden before they could gather their bearings and come after him.

It had grown dimmer, so he waved his hand and the cloth disappeared from his face.

The gardens of the Southern Sea palace were large and winding. Within a few minutes he had gotten himself lost.

Being lost was still better than being around those idiots, so Severus sat on a bench and played with his fan for a few moments.

"Hey mister!" 

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't anyone teach you how to greet your elders properly?" 

The speaker was a little girl, probably no more than a few hundred years old, her black hair tied up into a braided bun and her large, green eyes staring curiously at Severus's fan.

"I saw you use your fan to knock over those men. Can I try it?"

"It's not a toy. And that's sir, to you."

"Sorry, sir." The girl held out her hand. 

"I said it's not a toy. But I'll let you borrow it if you'll help me find my way back to the party."

"Why would you want to go back there?" 

Severus found himself smiling. "I share the sentiment, little miss. But unfortunately, I do have responsibilities as a High God. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!"

The girl grabbed his hand, and he would have yanked it back, but she had a surprisingly strong girl for a child that barely came up to his hip.

She dragged him every which way, and Severus was beginning to feel like a ship, but then the girl stopped in front of the doors of the Southern Sea palace and he had to admit that he was just a tiny bit impressed.

"Well, I suppose we did have a deal."

The girl beamed, and reached for the fan. 

Severus handed it to her. "Once only, and that is all."

The girl took it and, with a big smile, made as strong of a flick as she could with her arm. 

The gust of wind was so strong it completely toppled over the entire part of the garden they had just come through. Corals smashed and sand flew up into Severus's eyes, making him wince and the cloth reappear to protect his eyes.

The girl giggled, and then stopped.

"... father?"

Severus looked down at her, and raised an eyebrow.

The girl's eyes were huge now. 

"...Father?" She asked again, her voice shaky now. 

Oh dear Heavens, she wasn't talking about _him_ , was she?

His fears were confirmed when the girl sank down onto her knees and wrapped her small limbs around Severus's leg, and started wailing loudly.

And this was the exact reason why Severus never went to these things. 

He tried shaking his leg, but she just held on like a leech and wailed even louder.

"Stop crying!" He demanded. "I'm not your father!"

"It's you!" The girl wailed. "PAPA! Father came back to us!"

He heard the sound of running, and Severus looked up to see that Harry Potter himself was not only in front of him, but he realized it was Harry fucking Potter's daughter attached to his leg and wailing to wake all the realms.

"Eileen!" Harry Potter pried her off of Severus, thank Heavens. "What happened?"

Eileen just wailed and pointed at Severus. 

Harry Potter looked up at him, eyes wide, and froze.

Severus was terribly confused and aggravated about the entire situation, and failed to notice that Potter's hand was now resting on his cheek. 

His green eyes were wide and shiny, and he was about to say something when Severus hissed and slapped his hand away.

"Alex…?" 

"Impudent!" He snarled. "Potter, it's me. Your teacher. Your fiance? Have you forgotten every single manners lesson I drove into your thick skull? Were twenty thousand years not enough to drill a proper education into you?"

Potter's gaze shuttered. He drew his hand away and gave Severus a strained smile.

"Master, it's been a while."

Severus scoffed. "Not long enough, though a while enough indeed that you've managed to produce this mysterious progeny of yours."

"She's cute, isn't she?" Harry smiled and bent to pat the top of Eileen's head.

"Interesting choice of name." 

Something flickered in Harry's gaze. "Interesting indeed."

"Is your mother here?"

"Yes, she's been looking for you."

"Good. I need to talk to her about her letting you run your oats wild, as it were."

Harry winced at him, and the strange look in his eyes didn't go away.

"Mount Fenrir."

"What?" Severus raised an eyebrow, confused.

"...ah." Potter's smile widened. 

"Father." Eileen sniffled again.

"Severus." Potter said. "I'm really sorry about this. Can I get you something to drink inside? Do you still like pomegranate wine?" 

"Severus now, is it?" He sneered at him. "You were calling me Master just a moment ago. By terms of seniority and rank, 'Uncle' would be more appropriate if you've lost the taste for the title you _should_ actually be calling me."

"My daughter calls you Father and I'm to call you Uncle? Does that make sense, Severus?" 

He'd forgotten how aggravating Potter was. He scoffed and turned his back to him.

"You!" A shrill voice had joined them, and Severus turned back to see that Empress Fleur herself had arrived, her red headed husband and an entire retinue of guards and servants in tow. "High God Severus, I know ve don't know each ozzer vell, but how have I offended you? Vhy did you deeestroy my gardens?"

Eileen's eyes turned huge, and she hid the fan behind her back. 

"I think you should be asking what the junior crown princess has hiding behind her back, Fleur." Harry said, his smile turning mischievous.

Eileen produced the fan from behind her back with a gulp.

Empress Fleur gaped and looked at Severus again. "Your Grace, I'm sovvee for accuzeng you!" 

Severus waved his hand. He honestly couldn't care less about it.

"Eileen." Potter's voice was stern. "Please give your Father his fan back."

Why that little-

He was still glaring when Eileen gave him his fan, looking sheepish. 

He took it from her and quickly rapped the top of her head. 

Potter burst out laughing.

"Your father always did that when he was teaching me." Potter laughed, and patted the top of Eileen's head several times. "Don't look so put out."

"As long as Father doesn't leave again." Her pout was adorable and pointed directly at Severus.

"Oh, eezent eet charming, Bill?" Empress Fleur trilled, placing an arm around her husband's waist. "A marriage of destiny…"

Severus had had enough. He was beginning to wish he _had_ destroyed the damn garden. He spat out a goodbye and flew off without even glancing in Potter's direction. 

He decided that it might be best to be in his true form and find somewhere to sleep along the coast. He had a feeling he hadn't heard the end of Potter and the little princess. 

He flew all the way back to the Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms forest the next day cursing idiot boys and their undisciplined children and blonde sea empresses all the way. 

Was this Tom Riddle's curse? For him to be plagued by idiots all wanting his attention for some strange heaven forsaken reason?

It was scarcely a day later when Severus had been buying food from the village and was making his way back to the cottage when one of the snakes of Qingqiu, Blaise Zabini, turned back into his human form and fell onto his knees.

"I'm so sorry, High God, but I couldn't stop him!'

Severus burst into his cottage to find, to his horror, that that blasted Potter boy was sitting at his table. 

Potter looked up and smiled at him, and opened his mouth to say something that would undoubtedly be foolish, but was cut off when a tiny black blur ran past him then attached itself to Severus's leg.

"Father! I missed you!"

"What."

Potter stood. "Sorry, Severus. But Eileen missed her father, and I missed my husband, so I made my excuses to the heavenly palace and went here."

"Care to repeat that?' Severus tried to shake the little princess of his leg and failed, to his misery. "Last I remembered, we were merely engaged."

"We've been engaged since before I was even a thought in my dad's mind, so aren't we practically married?"

"Is this how you've used the twenty thousand years of education I suffered to get through your thick skull? I don't remember a wedding ceremony, Potter. Now, tell me. What in the damn heavens are you doing here? Uninvited, no less?"

Potter smiled at him. "There are ten miles of falling peach blossoms, but only one is enough for my heart."

Something about the statement made Severus's hand freeze over the teapot he was teaching for, and his stomach felt like it had swooped down to the floor.

"What? What did you say?" 

Potter continued talking as if he hadn't said anything. "My mum did say she wanted us to spend more time together. She didn't like seeing how much we kept fighting when I was your disciple. Let's go to the village, I missed it there."

Severus shook off his confusion, deciding it was a momentary lapse of sanity. He was already a hundred and forty thousand years old, after all. Perhaps it was that mortal dementia illness.

That was how he ended up at the village market again, with Potter peering at all the wares and his daughter clutching at Severus's robe like a parasite.

"You still like beef stew, right?"

Severus couldn't remember ever letting Potter know this information, and couldn't remember them ever sharing a meal together even once, but he nodded if only to get Potter to leave him alone faster.

"High God!" Shouted the meat vendor, a little rabbit who had let one of her ears show on her head. "Where did you get this cute little sweetheart?" 

"You went to a single party and came back with a husband and a child!" The voice of the bear who had given Severus the stack of fish boomed out.

"High God, if you go to another party you might come back with a grandchild."

Potter's grin widened with every remark thrown their way, and to Severus's horror, he wrapped an arm around his waist. 

Severus tried pushing his arm off, but realized too late he had been the one to teach Potter martial arts and cultivation. The arm wasn't budging. 

Severus realized that all his taunts of Potter being like his father before were wrong.

No, he realized with horror. He was too much like his mother. He had set his eyes on Severus and now was going to cling to him whether he liked it or not. 

Severus had to close his eyes and take several deep breaths to remind himself he'd be in great trouble indeed if he threw the Crown Prince of the Heavens off of a cliff.

Potter cooked the ingredients he had bought into a delicious beef stew. When asked, Severus said it was only passable. Damn him.

Potter did not leave. 

When Severus flew towards the Snake Den in Qingqiu to make sure none of the children had killed each other and were cultivating to immortality property, Potter followed. 

When Severus visited the Fox Den, Potter followed. 

They were happy enough to be visited by their High God, but their excitement had been increased tenfold when they saw just who was following Severus's every footstep.

Severus kept coming home trying to figure out where to store the new batch of cakes, bottles of wine, stacks and stacks of raw meat and vegetables.

It was getting ridiculous.

One night it reached a tipping point.

Severus had just gone to bed and had been drifting off to sleep blissfully when he opened his eyes to see Potter standing above him. 

He was so shocked at the absolute gall that he couldn't say anything. 

"The bed's a little small for both of us, but we could squeeze."

Potter slipped in next to him. Severus shuffled until he was plastered to the wall.

He remembered the anger management techniques Albus had drilled into his head tens of thousands of years ago.

He started counting backwards from a hundred and had reached seventy five when he felt Potter's arm slide around his waist. 

"The bed _is_ too small." Severus said, sitting up so fast his head spun. 

"It's nice like this. Do you remember when I first was your disciple and I fell asleep curled between your tails? It's sort of like that." Potter burrowed in closer and buried his face in Severus's stomach.

He felt his face turn warm. He needed to take deep breaths before he started squawking like one of the peacocks of the Peacock Nest. 

Severus tried to let off Potter's arms, but they held fast. 

Was he to just resign himself to this fate now? His fiance was going to be the death of him. Finally, after one hundred and forty thousand years, someone had managed to off him by cuddling him to death. 

But… Severus leaned back against the pillows. It was… sort of nice. 

He felt his face warm again, and he sneered at the night air. 

"Twenty thousand years ago you weren't so interested in this marriage."

"Twenty thousand years ago you kept sneering at me and telling me my cultivation was the worst you had ever seen."

Potter nuzzled into him and fell asleep.

The next morning it seemed Potter had remembered he was a Crown Prince after all, and said his goodbyes to Severus.

He would have been happy, except he left his brat behind.

\---

When Harry returned to the Heavenly Palace, he finally let himself go and curled up in a chair in the Heavenly Emperor's office. 

Albus found him like that, his head buried in his arms and his face damp.

"Oh, Harry. Here, have a lemon drop." 

He accepted the candy and wiped his cheeks.

"I went to visit my old teacher."

"Ah. How is Severus?" 

"He's fine."

"So he's healed from his long sleep, after all." Albus sat down across from Harry and flicked his hand. A tray of tea conjured on the table. 

"Back then you and my mum were the ones to fetch him after he battled with Tom Riddle. Was his sleep real?"

Albus chuckled. "Of course it was real. This, you can trust me on."

"His eyes, then. I noticed he is sensitive to light now. He needs a cloth over his eyes so he's not in pain. What happened?"

"Either he was injured, or he was born with it." Albus sighed. 

"Did he forget something?"

"Severus slept for so long, of course he would forget some things."

Harry just stared at him for a moment and then smiled sadly. "I know you're lying to me, Albus, but after all that happened to Alex back then, it's nothing less than I deserve."

He swept out of the office with that, not seeing Albus's sad eyes watching him go.

The Soul Gathering Lamp was burning on Harry's desk, as it had for the past three hundred years.

When the belongings of a dead immortal were burned in the Soul Gathering Lamp, it would regather the dead immortal's soul and bring them back to life.

When the belongings of a dead mortal were burned it would regather their soul, but only produce a false copy of the mortal.

Harry had been so destroyed by Alexander's death he would have settled for just a copy. He had burned every single one of Alexander's possessions into, and yet nothing had happened in the three hundred years it had burned. 

He had long since run out of Alexander's possessions to burn. When nothing had happened after running out, his mother had to talk him out of jumping off the Execution Terrace.

And so the lamp had continued to burn.

Harry produced a tiny black handkerchief he'd stolen from Severus's pocket as he'd shadowed him in Qingqiu, and dipped it into the flame. 

The light of the flame burst green and swirled.

Harry let out a shocked laugh and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks again.

It was him. It was really him.

Harry was still staring at the lamp when Hermione came in holding a pot of tea for then to share.

She saw Harry staring into the Soul Gathering Lamp and wilted visibly.

"Harry, you shouldn't, you really shouldn't…"

Harry shook his head, smiled, and waved his hand. The flame went out.

Hermione gasped in horror and put the pot down.

"Harry, you- don’t tell me you’ve given up on Alexander, after all these years?"

"I don't need the lamp anymore. I found him."

"You regathered his soul? Where is he then?' 

Harry shook his head again. "No. It's more like he never lost his soul in the first place.'

"Harry, how could that be?" Hermione sat down next to him and put a hand on his arm. "Talk to me, Harry. All these years, you haven't even wanted to live. If you have any false hopes…. Mortals cannot survive jumping off of the Execution Terrace, Harry. Unless he was a god, he couldn't have..."

Hermione blinked, and then straightened. "Wait…"

Harry's smile was a watery one. "You're always right, 'Mione."

"Harry, this is…" She jumped up. "This is great news! If he's not dead, then he can return to you!"

Harry's shoulders sagged again. "It's not that simple, 'Mione. I even know who the god is. It's our old teacher. Severus Snape."

"Huh?" Hermione looked confused. "Harry, the three of us studied under him for twenty thousand years. We would have recognized him."

"That's what I'm trying to understand now. I met him again at Bill's and Fleur's party for Victoire at the Southern Sea palace. I followed him all the way to Qingqiu. He doesn't remember our marriage. He didn't recognize Eileen. And we didn't recognize him when he was a mortal… finding out Alexander is Severus has only given me hundreds of questions."

Harry motioned towards the like of ashes on the table.

"I stole this handkerchief from him and burned it in the lamp. It's really him, Hermione. He's… he really came back to me."

"Oh, Harry." She hugged him and buried her face into his shoulder. "You have no idea how happy I am for you."

He hugged her back, more tears dripping down his face.

“But…” Hermione drew away. “When Snape was Alexander, he… he suffered so much, Harry. You weren’t there to see it as much as Ron and I did. He thought you no longer loved him. If he doesn’t remember, then… it might be better if he really never remembers. The way things were back then, it completely broke his heart. It broke my heart just watching it all happen.’

“I know, ‘Mione. I won’t tell him. He doesn’t deserve to go through all that pain again.” 

Hermione hugged him again. “I think it’s time we paid our respects to our old teacher.”

\---

"What are you doing?" Severus asked when he swept out to where the little princess was sitting in the grass outside and seemed to be concentrating very hard on something.

"Father, I'm cultivating, can't you see?"

He sat down next to her and conjured an image of what she was doing. After inspecting all of her meridians, it appeared that everything was in order.

"I assume your father taught you?'

Eileen shook her head. "Grandmother did, because I'm a white nine-tailed fox like her and you, Father."

"A white fox, hmm?" Severus had assumed that stag blood would be more dominant. "So you inherited that nature from your grandmother."

Eileen shook her head. "How could I? I got it from you, father."

He smacked the top of her head lightly with his fan. "How could you get it from me?"

"Because you're my father!" Eileen's eyes were looking wet now. Severus sighed. He needed to diffuse this situation.

".. well, when I marry the Crown Prince in the future, I really will be your father."

Eileen brightened. "Papa also said that we should move in here because he didn't think you'd want to move to the Heavenly Palace with us!"

...he was going to kill Potter.

"Move in?" He said with a sneer.

Eileen stood up. "Father, I'm hungry!"

"....Fine. Off to the market with us both. Don't get distracted."

Severus really didn't trust the girl to not go running off if he didn't keep an eye on her. He stopped in front of a woman who had sold him oranges since he was younger.

"Uncle!" She stood up with a grin and bowed to him. "You brought the little highness with you."

"I'm not little! I'm already three hundred years old!" Eileen stomped her foot and glared up at the fruit vendor. 

The fruit vendor burst out laughing. "Yes, yes, of course! Are you hungry, little one? Do you like grapes? Or oranges?"

"She likes grapes." An arm reached around Severus's waist and picked up a bunch of them, and plopped them inside Severus's basket. 

The closeness of Potter's infuriatingly lovely green eyes made Severus's neck tingle. He coughed behind his hand to hide it, but the arm snaked around his waist and pulled him closer to Potter. 

"Aren't you a little close?" Severus asked. 

"I could be closer." Potter's lips were brushing his ear now. 

Only a few close encounters with Potter, and Severus had already turned into this… foolishness. He was losing his touch.

"... we'll take the grapes." He told the fruit vendor.

"We should get some meat and vegetables for Eileen too." Harry said as they walked down the streets of the market. "She's still growing."

"You never told me she was a fox." Severus said. 

"Yes." Something in Potter's eyes dimmed. "Severus? Sev."

"If you insist on calling me disrespectfully, 'Severus' would be fine. The only person I have allowed to call me by that infernal nickname is your mother, and she is already on thin ice as it is with her constant nagging."

Harry smiled at him. 

It was a soft, lovely thing. Back when Severus was still his teacher, he had only ever seen those smiled secondhand. They had never been aimed at him specifically. 

Severus stopped in the middle of the street, making Harry stumble. Eileen saw a candy vendor and hopped off towards it.

"Severus?" 

"Why are you doing all this? Is it because I resemble Eileen's father?" 

Harry looked at him for a moment, and let go of his arm. 

"I want to get to know you. We're going to get married sooner or later, right? And I did have a crush on you before, you know. You just never noticed."

Severus must have been gaping, because Potter was laughing into Severus's shoulder now.

"It's true! I met my- Eileen's father later on, yes."

Severus's lips twitched upwards, and they continued walking down the bustling street. Eileen hopped after them.

"And where is he now? He was named Alex, correct?"

"He was mortal. He's dead now."

...oh. 

"Mortal?" That … changed things. No wonder the identity of Eileen's father had been so hushed up. The crown prince, marrying a mortal… that must have been quite the scandal in the Heavens. 

"Yes. Eileen is half mortal." Harry's eyes dimmed again as he looked at his daughter, who was now distracted by a vendor selling sweetmeats. "Her father died just after she was born. He named her before he- before he passed."

Severus didn't know what to say. He cleared his throat. 

"I am sorry for your loss."

Harry smiled again, but it was a lot less bright than earlier. "It still hurts, don't get me wrong. But it hurts a lot less when I'm with you."

His mouth pressed into a thin line. “Thus is the suffering of all the immortals of Heaven.”

Harry’s arm remained curled around his for the rest of the shopping trip.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! I'll be explaining more as the story goes on.
> 
> This AU is based on Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. There's a movie and a drama with 58 episodes if you guys want to check it out.


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